Roseburg review. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 1885-1920, 1887-09-02
THE CICSES OF TIE DECLINE OF
MEDICAL PRESTIGE.

Insane idea That their first born wa
too good to work. They had worked
all their lives, and they were deter
mined that their sons should he gentle
men, and their daughters ladies. The,
pinched themselves, and endured pov
erty to enable them to give their SOD.
and daughters an education, TIL,
daughters were taught department.
music, French and polite airs generally
and their sons Latin and mathematics
and an adherence of manuel labor, al
only fit for slaves, on persons of Low
degree. Following the :. old English
idea, the first born must be dedicated
to the army, and the younger to the
church, medicine, or law. The inter
mediate could take care of themselves,
only that they were bound to uphold the
family honor and keep themselves free
from the stigma of labor. We are a
republic, and yet the heredity of this
monarchlal system clings to us, and is
shown in our every days experience.
There is no man in this world, bound
as all must be by the mental organism
received from his ancestors, but will
recognize this fact, that he desires for
his sons, some position where brains
and not muscle shall enable him to OBJ
tain a livelihood. And byE brains, we
mean those purely mental occupations
that do not demand the exercise of
those intellectual faculties, which en-
croach on the domain of labor. To be
llnguist, theorist, (theologian, or
scientist, lecturer on abstruce sci
ence, lawyer, Or last of all, medical
man, might not detract from the honor
of the race; but to he ''dirty me-
chanlc, to promulgate any theory in
mechanical science, or to invent OF dis
cover any theory by which the sol
poHoi," the common mass of the popu.
lation were to be benefited, was to de-
grade the higher classes of humanity,
by elevating above their station the
lower order of mankind. The desire
to obtain living without labor, and
to belong to that class of society called
intellectual, has flooded the community
with thousands of half educated per-
sons, whose efforts to sustain them
selves rest only on the ignorance of
the masses, and on the amount Of as
and chicanery they can bring
% then ee,id. :
Although each one of the so-called
learned professions" affords abundant
Of the truth of this assertion,
Iet in none is it more manifest than
Il our own. We say now, as we have
aid before, that it is in answerto this
lemand for an occupation without la
'or, {that may elevate men in the
world aud give them prestige and
wealth, without the capacity to sus-
ain themselves, that has caused mul.
iplication Of medical collie ges, whose
'nly aim has been the money paid by
Is students (D and year by year there
re sent out to prey upon the credulity
md Ignorance Of the people-doctors(l)
Who have not the first qualification
or the possession AS artizans, en-
,ineers, business men, farmers, they
would have acquired fortunes and hap
9iness. Physicians, like poets, "nasci-
'ur non it," Take fifty so-called doc
'ors and place them in line, then let
some educated physician, born to his
profession, choose from among them,
his equal. Let any unedncated man
declare the occupation of each, and in
either case, how many would be chosen
as physiciansl 1t is the desire for
competence without labor or brains,
on the one hand, and the pandering to
this desire on the other, that has low
cred the standard and the prestige of
the true physician. That this is the
right view of this subject, has been
shown by the action Of the State
Board of Health of Iowa, which abso-
lutely refuses to recognize the diplomas
Of some thirty colleges of the class we
deride. This is virtually hoycotting,
but it must receive the sanction of the
world, since it is protection to human
life. What similar bodies, confident
in their own integrity and high stand
ard, have courage to follow this exam
pie! Institutions thus ostracised will
soon close their doors. This is the
only way to purge the profession of
uneducated members, and to rehabilitate
the practice of medicine Unworthy
institutions being 10 longer recognized,
let the legitimate colleges raise the
standard of primary qualifications, ard
admit no neophyte, unless qualified by
a four years collegiate course sof study:
then will the term physician take the
place of doctor, and profession as a
whole receive the respect add consid-
Grafton that belongs TO it. Com,eti-
tion and jealousies will cease, and ed
ucatcd skill W II not be obliged to com
In I,